Introduce this Weekend League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a stellar experienced side who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players who have performed at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you target more silverware.

One Manchester team has an non-professional vets team with nine ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

The lineup this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 Premier League games.

The elite squad also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have secured 15 significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those people who come and see are happy and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Nicholas Lopez
Nicholas Lopez

Workplace wellness advocate and productivity coach with a passion for creating inspiring office environments.